The River is Wide II

This morning, a mother and her daughter took off in kayaks in the early morning light...The water and air was very still - and I sensed we would have another hot day on tap!

Yesterday the movers came and moved all the equipment and furniture to the new studio. I laid down mats and re-calculated the space and noted I could accommodate 24 comfortably. As I shot the breeze with my partners in this venture, I realized it felt very much like home. We delighted in some of the decorative purchases and touches we had made...

Today is another full day, but I was present and felt very rested down at the river this morning as I did all of my sundry river meditations.

I end this month surveying the vast expanse of the river and thinking of all that the river has been to me these many months - and of this song that I been singing to myself, over and over again. Every time I come to the river, it seems that the first thing I "hear" inside of me is: "The river is wide..." So many versions have been made of of this song - but my favorite is by a friend:

The River is Wide

The river is wide
I cannot see.
Nor do I have
light wings to fly.
Build me a boat
that can carry two
and both shall row,
my love and I.

My love is like
the lofty tree
It sudders fierce
and then sways free.
If it should fade
when the summer's through,
she'll bloom again
when spring shines through.

When love is young,
then love is fine.
Just like a gem
when first it's new.
But love grows old
and waxes cold,
and fades away
like morning dew...

The River in Summer Haze and Gratitude

I arise in the waning darkness and do my morning meditation, then head out to the river before embarking on my long trek to the other side of the river to sub at the studio which is my spiritual home...

I encounter a group of six gentle deer and we spend some time looking at each other very intently in the eye. I feel we are all one - there is no fear - only love...

Though I have come to the river earlier than usual, I watch an experienced kayaker instruct a "newbie" and I listen closely to what he says, mentally taking notes. In almost moments they disappear to the other side of the river, and I sit in the stillness and haze, indicating it will be very hot today...

Fish jump here and there - and the river looks like a plate of glass - and for a moment I feel myself "walk" on its surface - longingly looking towards the other side...

I give thanks for the opportunities of this day - to teach - and to start anew...

I arrive early at the studio and take the seat of the teacher in the very same room that I have been a student for over two and half years, watching my own gifted teacher take this seat... If only I could be half as good as her, and yet - I truly know that I am... Both of us share our own unique gifts...

I work with establishing a balanced action between shoulder loop and kidney loop and weave in the theme of gratitude - noting how the expression of gratitude opens the heart and how even every sorrow contains an invitation to be grateful. I find myself connecting to the students and they respond with beautiful yoga...

I am grateful for the opportunity to teach in this - my spiritual home - and to give back just a little of what I have received in terms of nourishment and support...

At the end of a class a student shares that it is her 50th birthday, and that this class was a wonderful way to celebrate that milestone... Another thanks me for teaching today...

I drive home - leaving one studio - and going out to check on another - movers arriving shortly to move equipment and I think of myself seamlessly dancing between two spiritual homes - the one where I receive and the one where I will give - and I am grateful for both, mindful of Meister Eckhart, the German medieval mystic who wrote:

"If the only prayer you ever say is 'thank you,' it will be enough."

Sacred Space

I arise and go to the river early... There is not a car or soul in sight...I commune with the river in the anticipation of dedicating a sacred space...There are signs everywhere of today's significance, easily missed by the non-observant heart...

Keys received - opening doors to sacred space - and to a new spiritual home - and a new phase in my life...

I enter in silence and pray a variation of Yogananda's Prayer:

Dearest God - lineage of beloved gurus, saints, angels and guides;
May thy love shine forever on the sanctuary of my devotion--
and the devotion and dedication of all who come to this sacred space
that we may all be able to awaken thy love in all hearts...

Drops of holy water from the Mother Ganges and from the shrine at Lourdes cleanse and sanctify this sacred space...

Fragrant holy oil anoints every corner of both rooms...

I bow in reverence and offer up my Kriya practice in this space, with the magnificent spiritual eye of God more visible than it has been...

Prayers and mantras mingle in sacred union - Hail Mary's and Our Fathers, and OM Namah Shivayas...

I pray:

May this sacred space be a refuge
for hearts in search of you...

May this sacred space always be a temple
of love and compassion...

May we attract those students
thirsting for greater meaning and a deeper spirituality

And may we draw unto us those teachers
who will be vessels of your love and peace...

May all of us who work here be channels and instruments
of devotion, always aware that our mission is sacred...

I have been led here, to create a new home for many--
Be with me and with all who come here - teachers and students
to always know union in community...

May this always be a haven for peace--
and may we be conduits of joy and bliss...

Prayer after prayer recited - offered from the depths of my heart and soul - part of a very sacred ritual...

I bow, and give thanks for the opportunity to begin a very sacred ministry...

Ten Thousand Joys and Sorrows

My heart has been elsewhere these last few days...Imagining moments, experiences, breakthroughs, that were not my own...

The deep ache of loss permeates everything, but I know, as I prepare my comments for the class I will teach this week for another instructor - that the Buddha taught that we are each given ten thousand joys and ten thousand sorrows...

In the midst of my own sadness, two students connect with me and express deep felt gratitude for experiences and breakthroughs in a workshop that I had prepared them for...Yes, their gratitude melts into a joy flowering forth from my sorrow...

Tears flow, reminding me to keep my heart open - when what I want to do is to close up tightly. This is what I will teach this week, and it is what I must learn again, and again, and again - how to remain open, despite everything that life offers us...

I think of Tony Snow, the Press Secretary who died recently - born in 1955 like I was - who said that getting cancer had been his greatest blessing. He wrote:

"We like lives of predictable ease - but God loves to go off road...

He provokes us with twists and turns. He places us in predicaments that seem to defy our endurance and comprehension - and yet by His love and grace, we persevere.

The challenges that make our hearts leap and stomachs churn invariably strengthen our faith and grant measures of wisdom and joy we would not experience otherwise...

You are called...This is love of a very special order...The mere thought of death somehow makes every blessing vivid, every happiness more luminous and intense..."

These words come from a longer and very beautiful passage.

Each one of us bears our crosses and life lessons in very different ways...Yesterday I celebrated then engagement of a former high school student of mine - now thirty, a brilliant medical resident, who is also battling cancer. It could not have happened to a more beautiful person. Yet she is not putting her life on hold. It was a joy to see her and hug her over and over again. Later, on my drive home, I thought of the losses experienced by so many around me - and how mine seem to pale insignificantly in comparison...

Every sorrow contains a seed of joy within. Every loss somehow brings us a gift. Still, we must allow ourselves to feel vividly the sense of loss, and then give thanks for its fruits...

Love Greater Than Pain

I am not where I thought I would be this morning...But I am there in my heart...Perhaps even present in other hearts...

I review the wise counsel and insights given to me by a mentor who traveled from afar and recommended some materials for my healing journey...

I am saddened by the passing of Randy Pausch, the professor, who filmed his "Last Lecture" and moved the world by reminding us all, of what is really important in life...

I still mourn so much and yet rejoice in new experiences as I delight in seeing the studio that will be my new home - as it is nearing its completion...

I review my theme and comments in preparation for subbing at the studio that is my spiritual home - honored to be invited to teach there - nervous about my first experience doing so - wanting to give back just a bit of what I have received...

And I remember a message received and remembered at the river the last few mornings...

Love Greater Than Pain

the river speaks its wisdom--
as an inner locution sourced
from an inspirational reading:

"Your love--
must be stronger than your pain."

a haunting mantra,
skipping on the surface of this river,
dancing in my heart
like a blessed soul
not so long ago...

I know...
in every instance
and every merging--
and in every experience
of distance and separation,
my love--
must be greater than my pain

Deep Water Passage

Last night, I finally allowed myself to finish reading Deep Water Passage: A Spiritual Journey at Mid-Life by Ann Linnea, where she documents her experience of being the first woman to kayak around Lake Superior over the course of 65 days. The journey was fraught with dangers, but the spiritual awakening she experienced changed the course and direction of her life.

Once again, there were passages I resonated with, and which were reminiscent of experiences I had in my life this past year, and in my visits to the river...

"When we can hold council with fellow creatures of all species, then we are beginning to understand the presence of sacred in our lives. But the most challenging creature to hold council with is our own kind...

When two creatures meet as naturally as lake lapping against shore, or river flowing into sea, there is a melding, a magic that transcends the everyday. I felt myself drawn forward into understanding Mystery and Higher Purpose. I felt myself anointed and belonging. I didn't know what was about to happen to me in the human community toward which I resolutely aimed, but now I knew I had a community that claimed me...

There was a great darkness I had to pass through upon my return from the lake. I had so totally left my life that I did not know how to find my way back in. Indeed, I was a misfit even at the most basic physical level. My sense of hearing had become so keen that we had to have the phone ringer set to mute for weeks. My sense of smell was so acute that I couldn't walk down the street without smelling neighbors' back-yard garbage cans. And I had virtually no ability to engage in small talk...[I was] unable to speak..."

I knew what she spoke of - every sentence heavy with meaning....

This morning, I did my meditations and chanted at the river for a long time...After "returning" I opened my eyes and I saw everything differently. I felt I was the river - I was the blade of grass blowing with grace in the gentle early morning breeze - I was every leaf and even the foam lapping against the rock I sat on. And I thought to myself - now I truly understand - not only this book, but what this year and all its experiences have really been about...

Guardian Angels

I am nearing the end of my re-reading of Deep Water Passage, not wanting it to end!

Last night I read the next to the last chapter, a very touching one, entitled "Guardian Angels," which deals with a couple of special visitations that Ann Linnea receives...It also contains these quotes which spoke to me - the first one of these is a re-posting from a couple of days ago, but it continues to speak to me so deeply:

"There comes a time in our lives when we are called to believe the unbelievable. If we allow ourselves to believe, we open the door to the infinite possibility of who we might become...

Sometimes when we have been called into other realities, it is so unnerving that we must immerse ourselves in normalcy and ponder the immensity of the experience...

The longer I watched, the more my body resonated with a feeling of connectedness to everything around me - the night sky, the stars, the silhouettes of boulders, the lapping of waves on the shore...

It was as if my mind dropped down into my body, merging totally. There was...no thought about a time and place different from now. Just presence, awareness of deep integration, total oneness. When I can get to that place, reverence pervades all I do. Knowing how to help myself find and sustain that sense of reverence is the single most important gift I received from my trip around the lake. It was not a gift I had immediate understanding of...but it has become the guiding hand of my life...

When the sky is this clear, the water this calm, paddling becomes a meditation into the deepest part of my soul..."

These passages were so beautiful to read last night. This morning, as I surveyed the vast expanse of the river and slowly offered my Reiki and Lovingkindness meditations and prayers, I felt a oneness to this river in a much deeper way. I started coming to this river nine months ago because of a friend who has been very much a guardian angel on my healing path. Now, coming down to the river has become firmly integrated into my morning spiritual practices. When I don't come, I miss it deeply...

As I communed with nature this morning, I realized that I needed to restructure my mornings to ensure that I have time to do most of my practices. I may not be able to come to the river every day, but I had to ensure it was possible.

For a while I have been struggling with how to integrate everything, but this morning I had a real insight into how all of this would look, thanks to guidance coming from guardian angels on several different planes...

Celebration II

This has been a week of connecting with many people from various phases of my past - most of them celebrating birthdays...

One of them - is a friend I have known since I was nine - who was always interested in metaphysical things...

Another was my best friend in my late teens and early twenties...

A third was my college roommate...

And still another - was a friend from my mid twenties to mid thirties...

And the last one - is from my late forties to early fifties...

As I sat by the river this morning and recited 51 "Hail Marys" for the friend turning 51 today with a strong devotion to this prayer - I reflected on how people come in and out of our lives - and how so many significant people in my life have had birthdays at around the same time...I thought of all of those who have touched my life in one way or another and wish for all of them this blessing - dedicated to a very special person on her birthday:

"May your coming year be a good one--
rich and full, and deep.

May your spiritual practice take you places
you have not been to,
but have glimpsed, tasted, or imagined.

May you know the ever new joy that Yogananda
so beautifully speaks of,
not just occasionally, but in every moment.

May you know peace, hope, blessings,
and love without measure.

May you experience your cup running over
with all things good.

May you delight in the beauty that is present in everything,
surrounded by your family.

And may you recognize God's Presence
in every moment, year, and strand of your life."

Grace

Ann Linnea, in her book Deep Water Passage: A Spiritual Journey at Mid-life writes about her experience kayaking around Lake Superior.

I found it very symbolic that she named her boat Grace. I thought of her boat as a vessel of grace as she undertook this very dangerous journey.

Here are some passages from parts I read last night:

"The instruments of our bodies, when fully tuned and aligned, move with a grace and rhythm that is holy. In that holiness we are capable of our greatest actions. In those actions our lives become Spirit Song...

Mindfulness is so important. Whether in ecstasy or storm, we must be totally present to the moment, ready for the sudden shift of wind or mood or energy...

There comes a time in our lives, when we are called to believe the unbelievable. If we allow ourselves to believe, we open the door to the infinite possibility of who we might become..."

As one committed to a sacred practice of meditation and yoga, these three passages spoke to me very deeply. They were wonderful reminders of how to be, and where our practice can take us...

River Song

This morning I woke earlier than usual looking forward to sitting at the river about an hour earlier than I usually go.

I was struck by the amount of litter left on its shores and wondered how anyone could come to behold the river's beauty and yet not respect it.

I came with a heavy heart, so many things weighing down on me...

Last night, I read another chapter in the book - Deep Water Passage: A Spiritual Journey at Midlife by Ann Linnea, about a woman who decides to kayak around Lake Superior - a very dangerous journey. I have been slowly savoring my re-reading of this wonderful book, reading a chapter periodically, when I have the time to do so.

In the chapter I read last night, there is a poignant moment when Ann's children beg her to abandon her journey and come back home. She is torn, yet she reminds them of many adventures they took together, vowing to not come back until whatever lesson needed to learned was learned.

As I sat on a big rock, a footprint away from the water, I thought of the lessons I am constantly learning and re-learning. It was very peaceful and it occurred to me, that for months I sat on a bench simply observing and praying from afar. Now I was sitting where I could literally step into the water. The next logical step will be to go into the water and simply be there...

I did my Reiki meditations and reflected on the many experiences of the weekend as I taught my first Shinpiden class in the Japanese style of Reiki. The veil thinned between this physical world and the more subtle realms. Voices joined ours in chanting, and the presence of Kwan Yin was seen and felt.

Kwan Yin is the Goddess of Compassion. One of the Reiki Precepts focuses on developing greater compassion for ourselves first, and then for others. The story of Kwan Yin is so beautiful. It is said that when she died and was going to heaven she heard the cries of people on the earth and returned, vowing to stay here until every last one was healed and attained enlightenment.

I sat by the river for a long while, until I found peace in my heart again. It came with an invitation I heard inwardly:

"Come sit in my heart.
My heart is deeper
and wider, and richer
and fuller than this river--
and every river
within rivers
in this Universe.

Come sit in my heart
and receive
everything you need."

My sojourn to the river is a spiritual pilgrimage I make to listen to the river's song which is both healing and refreshing. I can now take on the tasks of this day...

Let the River Run

Last night, as I reviewed the 90 plus pages of poetry that I have written so far this year, I was struck by how poem after poem made references to the river I visit as often as I can, as well as to the ocean into which so many rivers spill and merge. It is a motif that I revisit over and over again almost to the point of being haunting.

There is a relationship I have to the river I cannot really explain. Yet it somehow discloses so many deeper parts of me that simply go unexpressed. The river itself has its own seasons, often mirroring what I need or am experiencing...

I thought of the symbolism of water, how at times it is cleansing, and how it also baptizes and anoints, and quenches thirst.

Before retiring, I quickly skimmed a book I just picked up as a summer read: Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon - and the Journey of a Generation. As I flipped through the last section of the book I noticed it was titled:

"In the river I know I will find the key"

This line, I discovered with some research, is from Carly Simon's song, "Like a River," a song she wrote after her mother's death. This song also contains the line:

"I will wait for you forever, like a river..."

I also thought of one of Carly Simon's most eloquent and powerful songs: "Let the River Run," and I thought to myself:

Let this river run - let it carry me where it will....
The river runs through me...
It is never the same river twice...
I will wait forever, like a river...
In the river I will find the key...
And someday, I will cross it,
and inhabit more refreshing shores...

Metaphysical Musings

Yesterday I had the chance to visit with two musician friends. Going to their house is always a treat. There are musical instruments everywhere - a Steinway in the dining room, and guitars and wood wind instruments in every corner of the house. There is a recording studio in the basement as well.

One of my friends is in the process of exploring a very interesting theory. He feels that tonality in music is analogous to the role the ego plays in life. He came to this awareness while studying Stravinsky's music and noted how Hitler preferred listening to Wagner and marches. He contrasted this with various atonal movements in music. I have always found his own musings very interesting and extremely stimulating. Often he comes up with ideas that I think would revolutionize the way we look at the relationship of music to life - if only he would take time to write it all down. Once I remember being fascinated as he illustrated the patterns that certain sounds make and how they connect to sacred geometry.

I shared with him the notion of doing a yoga practice to a metronome and he commented that doing so enables us to entrain with certain rhythms in nature.

We also spoke of our meditation practices, metaphysical books we had read, the role of ego, the power of sound and music in healing, the experience of non-locality, the illusion of anger, and how so much of our time is consumed by ego babble.

I left my friends feeling refreshed, with a good tip for a summer read, and stimulated by the more academic aspects of our discussions. It is always great to be able to connect with like minded friends.

Yoga for Everybody

Yesterday I had the opportunity to reconnect with a yoga teacher I have known and not seen for a while. While I pursued studying and teaching Anusara Yoga, she chose instead to study with Baron Baptiste. Each one of us found homes in very different traditions, but the things that drew us there were very similar - the spiritual dimensions of the practice, the experience of the practice as a meditation in motion, and the experience of community. We also spoke of a mutual friend who had chosen to study with Shiva Rea and was in the process of completing her advanced training with Shiva.

We shared some teaching strategies and my friend told me about how her studio teachers meet and practice on a weekly basis. This week in their meeting, they explored having to teach under certain conditions - for example - stripping down instructions to essential languaging and giving students only two words to convey the action wanted, or the heart quality emphasized. At one point they explored teaching Surya Namaskar A (Sun Salutations) to the beat of a metronome - following 4/4 time and so forth. I found it fascinating to consider doing this as a teacher to explore the quality and impact of my teaching.

We also discussed how there is a style and a system of yoga for every body. We had both attended the weekend workshop with Desiree - but it was not an ideal experience for my friend. I, on the other hand, had many "aha!" moments.

I thought of this again as I observed Master Teacher Suzie Hurley teaching a group of Level 1 students last night. One student asked her what was the difference between hatha yoga and Anusara Yoga.

Suzie explained "hatha" as simply being the "yoga of the body." She then described many of the different styles and traditions and how over more than a 30 year period, she had studied most of them, settling on Anusara Yoga because it therapeutically healed her through its precise bio-mechanical alignment, it deepened her spirituality, and it made her happy.

Yesterday afternoon, a Reiki client inquired about yoga and its many styles wondering what would be the appropriate style for her. I gave her a number of resources to consult. This morning, it seems so interesting to me how this question of different styles came up for me yesterday on three separate occasions. There is truly a style that resonates with everyone. Some individuals choose to study several methods at a time - but not everyone can pull that off and really know most of what there is to know about one tradition. Besides, some times traditions conflict on approaches and instructional methods, and basic theory.

Sometimes it takes years to find what you consider to be your home, but it is certainly worth the effort, for it feeds the soul on a very deep level.

The River is Wide

This morning, for the first time all year, someone was sitting on "my" bench down by the river. So I walked down the uneven path to the river and sat on a rock less than a footprint from the water.

It gave me a very different perspective there. I thought to myself - like the song: "The river is wide".

I felt on a par with the river - maybe not its equal - but in a different relationship to it. It was slightly breezy and peaceful and very quiet. I observed the tiniest life forms moving very freely in the water, and I wanted to stay there all morning. I experienced a connection to the river that was different.

The wideness of the river made me think of the yoga workshop I attended this past weekend and my own class on Tuesday. Both of my teachers worked on very similar things and tried to get me to embody more deeply the same action.

In Anusara Yoga we have a mantra that is often used: "Shins in, thighs out!"

It is a refinement of the second of the Universal Principle of Alignment - which is Muscular Energy. However, the "thighs out" is also a component of the third principle - Inner Spiral - because one must turn the thighs in, take them back - and widen them apart all the way into the lower back, opening the pelvic floor, and making room for the tail bone.

Getting the femur bones back and apart is not an easy thing to do for me. It begins with softening the groins and includes widening the sitting bones apart as well.

I had an insight this weekend at the workshop and in my class at how much more deeply I need to work this principle. My teacher has been focusing on another corollary to "shins in, thighs out," which is - "shins forward, thighs back." One can see how this relates to the principles mentioned here.

When the shins come forward, it allows for the tops of the thighs to go back more deeply, and also brings the leg into greater alignment. The tendency is to do the reverse. Yet by lifting the toes and connecting all four corners of the feet, we begin to activate ankle, shin, and thigh loop.

There are seven energy loops in Anusara Yoga which are refinements of muscular energy. For the most part (with one exception), adjoining loops go in opposite directions, balancing each other out like cogs on a chain. Thus, ankle loop bisects the ankle and the flow of energy goes down the heels grounding them, then stretches forward through the sole of the foot, lifting the toes, and circles back into the ankle - intersecting with shin loop (like a figure eight) - which travels up the back of the shin, lifting the calf muscle - and bisects the knee coming down the front of the shin - bringing the shin forward.

This all probably sounds esoteric, but it illustrates the precise bio-mechanical alignment principles of Anusara Yoga which when learned, are applicable in all the poses.

Part of me felt frustrated after Tuesday because I still feel such a novice at understanding all these principles. The other part of me marveled at how the principles worked. And still another part of me curiously played with what it would take to embody these actions more deeply in my body.

Yoga provides us with a constant road map and journey towards self-discovery. I remember Desiree Rumbaugh sharing this weekend, that after 14 years of studying Anusara Yoga, she is finally beginning to get it. This reminded me of my college music theory teacher who always said, "The first hundred years are the hardest!" We are never done learning! And a true student of life and any subject knows that.

Celebration

At the beginning of every new yoga session, my teacher picks a theme for the whole session which she introduces in the first class. This session it is celebration.

My teacher spoke of the many opportunities we have in life to celebrate - even in the midst of loss - which she herself had recently experienced. Some times we receive the greatest gifts from what seemingly appears to be insurmountable circumstances.

She spoke about the evening primrose - and how it blossoms in the evening almost unexpectedly. She shared how she had met someone who wanted to pull these flowers out of her beds because she did not know of their beauty. But an elderly neighbor counseled her against it - saying that in a year or two there would be beautiful blossoms - that would reveal their beauty for a moment.

My teacher told us the flowers did bloom - a year or so later - on the first anniversary of the elderly gentleman's death. And she also spoke of bringing her own children on a pilgrimage to the site to see the evening primrose blossom recently.

I was very moved by the beauty of this class - the theme, the instructions, the way she adjusted me, the connection to students around me. In the midst of so much that weighs us down, there is so much that can lift us up. There is always room for celebration - in spite of tears and loss. There is always the magnificent gift of life and creation and love to celebrate.

God is Always Ready

Here is another insightful and comforting poem by Meister Eckhart, the 13th century medieval mystic:

God is Always Ready

God is always ready,
but we are unready;
God is near to us,
but we are far from Him;
God is within, but we are without;
God is at home, but we are strangers.

Effort and Surrender

I just spent three wonderful days with one of my favorite Anusara Yoga teachers - Desiree Rumbaugh. I have been studying with her on and off for almost a decade.

On Friday morning I attended a teacher's practice which was well paced and was an opportunity to discuss the nuances of the Anusara teaching method and principles. We bantered back and forth agreeing and disagreeing - and sharing what worked and what didn't in our teaching as we progressed through increasingly more challenging poses. I did experience a few breakthroughs - and was able to do Ganda Bherudasana for the first time with an assist from Desiree. It is a rather bizarre looking pose - and feels equally extreme in the body!

I found myself going much deeper into backbends than I had in a year - because I had been protecting myself from the intense emotional releases that backbends can often cause. I felt freer and got some wonderful insights in the principles and how to deepen the experience of them in my body.

Desiree talked about the interplay between effort and surrender in our practice throughout the weekend. She also noted that she is still learning and only now starting to "get" deeper insights into the principles of alignment. As a teacher, it was so encouraging to hear, because I totally agree with her...

There were so many wonderful things she said. Here are a few glimpses...

Don't be attached to doing the poses - be attached to feeling good.

Imagine that Christmas lights string the three focal points in the body - the palate, the heart, and the core of the pelvis - and line these up when doing inversions.

Begin your practice like an old lady - slowly and deliberately - but end it like a rock star!

An advanced yogi or yogini takes time to set up their pose - they do it mindfully and don't rush in.

It's not the quantity of your practice that matters - but the quality.

During the course of the weekend, I marveled at how Des introduced a whole new audience to Anusara in a very concise but cogent way. She also very graciously introduced the Anusara teachers in the room to those present and called on us to assist her. She encouraged students to play their edge, but to do it safely by integrating Anusara Yoga's Universal Principles of Alignment.

Desiree invited those present to create change in their bodies through this practice and the application of its principles. Throughout the weekend, Desiree was - vintage Desiree - light, irreverent, spiritual, compassionate, and full of bliss - and we were led through sequences that gave many the taste of yoga as a blissful experience.

I throughly enjoyed my time - and as I said to Desiree before parting - she is truly aging like a fine bordeaux! I can't wait to experience her teaching again!

Right Attitude

This morning, before I left for the last portion of a three day yoga workshop, I read this beautiful reading from Paramahansa Yogananda's writings:

"Avoid a negative approach to life. Why gaze down the sewers when there is loveliness all around us? One may find some fault in even the greatest masterpieces of art, music, and literature. But isn't it better to enjoy their charm and glory?

Life has a bright side and a dark side, for the world of relativity is composed of light and shadows. If you permit your thoughts to dwell on evil, you yourself will become ugly. Look on for the good in everything, that you may absorb the quality of beauty."

Conscious Breathing II

Here are some more insights from my notes on the class I observed a couple of days ago that I referred to in my post yesterday morning...

"You must be conscious of putting your mind, body and breath together. It is important to do this - so the body doesn't tighten in the poses. The more consciously we breathe - the more we expand - so let us focus tonight on the relationship we have to the breath.

Every breath is a gift of life - it is about opening - and softening. Breathing in reflects an inward flow - while breathing out - reflects an outward flow. Everything in nature is an expression of these currents - an inward and outward flow.

The breath creates balance and harmony in the body. Press the palms of your hands together and give thanks that we are the recipients of this life force - this prana - of which the breath is only one aspect..."

Conscious Breathing

Last night I had the pleasure and honor of watching a Master Teacher share her enthusiasm and love for yoga with brand new students.

I was in awe of how she transmitted this love and how she wove her theme into this very beginning practice. She focused on the idea of conscious breathing and deftly wove it into the first principle of alignment. She encouraged her students to be the recipients of the breath and its gift of life as they moved through the poses.

I learned so much from observing this gifted teacher. I entered her room with a beginner's mind and came away enriched and filled to the brim. It re-ignited my passion for this discipline and desire to be a good teacher as I face new students again next week.

Lives within Lives

The last two mornings down by the river have been interesting...

Yesterday, a group of young boys were preparing to launch about 15 kayaks into the water, under the supervision and instruction of what seemed to be very capable teachers. The day was overcast, and as I left the park it started to rain and I wondered whether they launched or not.

Today there were two guys filming what seemed to be a car commercial, in addition to the various others who drive their cars around with their music blaring, or who sit in their cars talking. One guy walked to the picnic bench feet away from me and just sat and smoked. As a former psych major, it is so interesting to observe the many behaviors on display.

As I drove into the park this morning, I thought of how complicated our lives can be - how there are many phases to our lives - in essence - there are lives that we live within our lives. We are such richly textured beings!

I regularly read a newsletter called: What's Up on Planet Earth? Karen, the woman who writes this newsletter always seems to have a good pulse on what is happening energetically on the planet. In the latest issue, she addressed a lot of the energetic shifts that have been occurring since the Solstice. Here are a few paragraphs that I found relevant:

"...We may find that our loved ones and those near and dear to us are leaving and going somewhere else. It may seem that we are being permanently separated from those with whom we have shared the closest connections...

This separation phase involves a journey which we can only undertake on our own. It is a very private one...and needs to be undertaken before we come together once again. It is a rare gift and very sacred process between our souls and our creator...

After this has been accomplished, we then begin the re-connection to our brothers and sisters once again, and when this occurs, we feel a joy and completion I can barely begins to describe...

When the re-connection occurs, the masks are removed...It can be quite emotional to now connect more deeply to another who has just removed his/her mask....

Watching our loved ones and animal companions suffering with their own specific dilemmas, struggles, and traumas was difficult indeed, but if we can know that we need only honor and respect the paths they have chosen to get to the other side (without saving them), we can then trust that all is indeed in perfect and divine order..."

For the complete transcript, visit:

www.whatsuponplanetearth.com.latest.htm

Expands His Being

Last night I fell asleep to a meditation CD that was made in cooperation with the Dalai Lama, and seeks to replicate the brainwave patterns of advanced Tibetan Monks who emit GAMMA waves in deep meditation. The experience I had was beyond words...

This morning I re-read this beautiful poem by Meister Echkart, and found that it touched upon some of the experiences that I had:

Expands His Being

All beings
are words of God,
His music, His
art.

Sacred books, we are, for the infinite camps
in our
souls.

Every act reveals God and expands His being.
I know that may be hard
to comprehend.

All creatures are doing their best
to help God in His birth
of Himself.

Enough talk for the night.
He is laboring in of me;
I need to be silent for a while,

worlds are forming
in my heart.

Did You Find Joy?

The latest issue of The Inner Journey contains these two quotes:

"The future, and higher evolution,
will belong to those who live in joy,
who share joy, and who spread joy."
- Torkom Saraydarian

"Man loves because he is Love.
He seeks joy, for he is Joy.
He thirsts for God for he is composed of God
and he cannot exist without Him."
- Sathya Sai Baba

I found these quotes particularly relevant this afternoon as I painted my son's room a bright yellow. He has moved out now, and I wanted to turn the room into the combination of another guest bed room/sitting room/reading room.

I thought that picking this bright color would be uplifting when I felt down and when the skies sported a dull winter grey.

The Inner Journey Newsletter notes that joy is the energy of love, and is also the highest vibration on the planet. If we vibrate with joy, we will attract joy.

As noted before on this blog, the ancient Egyptians saw Joy as a sacred responsibility. Upon their deaths, they would be asked two questions before being allowed to cross over:

"Did you bring joy?" And,
"Did you find joy?"

Years ago, I had a reading with a very gifted intuitive and therapist. I was told that I had accomplished much in this lifetime, but had experienced very little joy. At the time that was true.

Yogananda teaches that God is experienced as ever new Joy and Bliss. When we have the experience of either one in meditation and in our life experiences, it is a sign that God is near. With an increased dedication to our sitting practice, ever new joy will increase. Yesterday I read how a devotee of Yogananda once told another that if he did not have this experience of ever new joy, he might as well be dead. In other words, he wasn't truly living.

Joy is our birthright. So - go out and find it if you don't already have it! And then when you do - give it away!

The Eight Limbs of Yoga

Every student of yoga at some point learns about the Eight Limbs of Yoga which are outlined in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. As I was cleaning out and organizing stacks of my notes yesterday, I came across this wonderful interpretation by Paramahansa Yogananda.

Bear in mind that volumes upon volumes of commentaries have been written throughout the centuries on each one of these limbs, and yet here is a brief summary that is accessible, easy to follow, and which also lays out the basic tenets of Kriya Yoga as taught by Yogananda.

The roots of this ancient yogic science, described in both the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Bhagavad Gita, are easily evident to those who have initiated into its sacred mysteries. Recently, as I re-read both texts in preparation for various presentations, I marveled at the insights these sutras from two very ancient scriptures now yielded as I considered them from a different perspective and from an established sitting practice in a particular lineage.

1. Avoid unrighteous behavior - yama.
2. Follow certain moral and spiritual precepts - niyama.
3. Learn to be still in body and mind, for where motion ceases, there begins the perception of God - asana.
4. While concentrating on the state of peace, practice control of the life force in the body - pranayama.
5. When your mind is your own, that is, under your control through pranayama, then you can give it to God - pratayahara.
6. Then begins meditation: first, concentrate on one of God's cosmic manifestations such as love wisdom, joy - dharana.
7. What follows in meditation is an expansion of the realization of God's infinite omnipresent nature - dhyana.
8. When the soul merges as one with God, who is ever existing, ever-conscious, ever-new Bliss, that is the goal - samadhi.

Our Truest I

Meister Eckhart is one of my most favorite medieval mystics. He was a 13th century German Dominican who is perhaps most famous today for this verse often quoted by Oprah:

"If the only prayer you ever say is 'Thank you,'
It would be enough."

This brief verse became the cornerstone of a whole "gratitude movement" in the mid to late 1990's, especially popularized by Sarah Ban Breathnach and her classic work - Simple Abundance - A Daybook of Comfort and Joy.

Here is another brief poem that caught my eye this morning:

"I AM can be spoken by no creature,
but by God alone.
I must become God and
God must become me, so completely that
we share the same 'I' eternally.
Our truest I is God."

A beautiful poem that invites much deeper reflection. I see much that resonates with the writings of Paramahansa Yogananda, which I continue to delve into.

I Cannot Dance

Another poem from Mechtilde of Magdeburg, the medieval mystic, on this magnificent 4th of July...

I Cannot Dance

I cannot dance Lord, unless you lead me.
If you want me to leap with abandon,
You must intone the song.
Then I shall leap into love,
From love into knowledge,
From knowledge into enjoyment,
And from enjoyment beyond all human sensations.
There I want to remain, yet want also to circle higher still.

May you always dance the exquisite dance of the Divine!

Embracing Freedom

The latest Namaste newsletter by the Chopra Center has a wonderful article on embracing freedom. It notes that some of the most amazing and significant stories are about people who journey from bondage and exile into freedom. I find this quite appropriate on the eve of the celebration of our nation's birthday.

The newsletter also contained this wonderful quote by Hafiz:

"We have not come here to take prisoners,
Or to confine our wondrous spirits
But to experience ever and ever more deeply
Our divine courage, freedom and light!"

We all yearn for freedom - it is part of our essential nature. As the article points out, ancient yogis recognized that the source of a lot of our bondage is due to our conditioned thoughts and responses - something that Eckhart Tolle's book - A New Earth - also recognized and examined in depth.

Freedom ultimately lies in the experience and full expression of the present moment. As we celebrate this July 4th, let us all be more deeply aware of the fact that freedom is not just a possibility - but it is a choice.

Read the full newsletter:
http://chopra.com/namaste/jul08

God Speaks to the Soul

This is an interesting time of the year to go visit the river because there are many boaters and people who go to the park and the boat launch in particular. Some park in their cars, talking on cell phones, often smoking - others sit in their cars with the windows down and music blaring. It seems rather odd to me and it defeats the purpose of seeking stillness and silence and connecting with nature. It certainly is a reminder that we are all at different stages of awareness - or lack thereof. I even notice the birds are very quiet during those times...

Last night I came across this beautiful poem by Mechtilde of Magdeburg, a 13th century Beguine and mystic...

God Speaks to the Soul

"And God said to the soul:
I desired you before the world began.
I desire you now
As you desire me.
And where the desires of two come together
There love is perfected.

HOW THE SOUL SPEAKS TO THE SOUL

Lord, you are my lover,
My longing,
My flowing stream,
My sun,
And I am your reflection.

HOW GOD ANSWERS THE SOUL

It is my nature that makes me love you often,
For I am love itself.
It is my longing that makes me love you intensely,
For I yearn to be loved from the heart.
it is my Eternity that makes me love you so long,
For I have no end."

I thought of my recent workshop on the Bhagavad Gita, and how this wonderful book is a love song that God sings to us as he pines for the only thing he does not have and which only we can freely give - our love...

Look to This Day

I begin a new month, and in many ways, a new year - one cycle completes and another begins...

I sit in meditation with the anticipation of all the gifts that life brings, the opportunities of this day, and portions of this prayer - this poem - that arises in my soul...

"Look to this day:
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence.
The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendor of achievement
Are but experiences of time.

For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision;
And today well-lived, makes
Yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore to this day;
Such is the salutation to the ever-new dawn!"

- Kalidasa